SEARCH ALL POSTS AND PAGES

A recent survey has revealed more overwhelming evidence that financial executives are looking to significantly improve their forecasting and financial modeling capabilities through new technology.

The latest survey courtesy of the accounting firm KPMG LLP polled 358 senior finance execs at U.S. companies with over $1 billion in annual revenue. Over 70 percent of those surveyed said financial planning and analysis is their biggest targeted area for improvement, and 60 percent specifically singled-out two immediate priorities:
1. Management reporting and analytical systems.
2. Business planning and forecasting tools.

According to the survey, a slew of recently missed revenue forecasts have led these finance execs to explore their options for improving their entire company’s data analysis capabilities. That means they’re looking into things like integrated business analysis software for additional capabilities such as dashboards, visual analytics and real-time reporting features.

KPMG’s survey is not the first to shed light on the trend of CFOs exploring new technology for deeper, more insightful analytics. A study conducted in late May by Gartner and the Financial Executives Research Foundation (FERF) found that CFOs are turning to new business intelligence (BI), analytics, and corporate performance management (CPM) technologies to improve over 75 percent of their top business process and automation issues. According to that study, BI and analytics will be a top area for CFO technology investment through 2014.

It’s no secret that CFOs want deeper, fully comprehensive, real-time insight into the financial state of their companies. But if these two latest surveys are any indication, we now know they are ready and willing to make large investments in mobile and cloud technology in order to get that insight.